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Langham Creative Projects - David E. Bjork

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160 pages

English

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The growth of Christianity in recent decades has been remarkable, but has it been growth with depth? Are our communities of faith, our churches, creating and nurturing deeply committed followers of Jesus? This book was born out of the realization that churches throughout the world, despite their numerous evangelization and spiritual development activities, are struggling to produce true disciples of Jesus.
How can we explain why so many of us in our churches are so unlike Jesus in the way we think and act? What can we change in our understanding and practices to facilitate life transformation and spiritual multiplication? And as Christians what are we called to do? In answering these questions the author proposes an alternative ecclesial and missional paradigm, that will enable us to better equip and mobilize believers in the mission that Christ gave to his disciples and gives to us all, to make disciples!

Informations

Publié par	Langham Creative Projects
Date de parution	14 juin 2015
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781783688715
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0027€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

David E. Bjork’s book weaves the threads of biblical apologetics and prophetic judgment, showing how the ecclesia as institution has perverted the concept of discipleship. It is an affirmation of Christ-followers to be life-long learners, and their “playing coaches” to faithfully equip them for the daily journey of faith and witness. Read it with an open mind!
William R. O’Brien
Missionary in Indonesia for 10 years and Founding Director of the Global Center at Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School, Alabama, USA
Dr David E. Bjork’s Every Believer a Disciple! is an essential addition to the library of all Christians who desire a clearer understanding of Jesus’ call to “make disciples of all nations” as a natural part of their everyday life in the twenty-first century. He has not written another “how-to” book with formulaic strategies but rather a plea for Christians to take discipleship seriously by going deeper into their own relationship with God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) and being available and intentional in accompanying fellow disciples on a journey that leads to a fuller, richer, more purposeful relationship with God and with one another. Readers from all Christian faith communities will be renewed in mind and in soul and they will be equipped to share Jesus’ love and truth with a world that desperately needs both.
Dr Thomas Jones
Chair of History, International Studies & Social Studies
Taylor University, Indiana, USA
In this book Dr Bjork speaks from careful research and Biblical study to point out how today’s organized church has allowed institutional concerns to overshadow its primary mission of discipleship multiplication as outlined in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). The principles he shares are more than theory, Dr Bjork has been putting them into practice for over forty years.
David Mann
World Partners Director
Out of the wealth of his years of experience ministering in Europe, Africa and North America, David E. Bjork has written an honest book with a courageous look at the most fundamental assignment Christ gave the church – discipling. I love this book because Bjork is willing to calmly and lovingly, but strongly, challenge many commonly accepted practices and assumptions in the evangelical movement. For instance, one of the most insidious and pervasive lies the modern evangelical church believes is the old lay/clergy dichotomy. But Bjork makes a compelling and persuasive case based on Scripture that ministry is not a task reserved for the “elite, full-time Christian workers” in the church. Rather, all vocations are holy and every believer should be engaged in ministry. You will enjoy the powerful personal examples Bjork shares out of his own years of rich experience. Following the biblical pattern Bjork so ably sets forth in this book will change the church. Converts will be truly discipled and trained to disciple others. Pastors and laity alike will be energized and active. The church will grow by focusing on its core task of making disciples. Believers will experience a more vital and fruitful life in Christ. Read this book and be changed.
Daryl McCarthy
Vice President of Academic Programs and Strategy
European Leadership Forum

Every Believer a Disciple!
Joining in God’s Mission
David E. Bjork

© 2015 by David E. Bjork
Published 2015 by Langham Global Library
an imprint of Langham Creative Projects
Langham Partnership
PO Box 296, Carlisle, Cumbria CA3 9WZ, UK
www.langham.org
ISBNs:
978-1-78368-872-2 Print
978-1-78368-870-8 Mobi
978-1-78368-871-5 ePub
978-1-78368-869-2 PDF
David E. Bjork has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 to be identified as the Author of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher or the Copyright Licensing Agency.
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, Anglicised, NIV® . Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Bjork, David E. author.
Every believer a disciple! : joining in God’s mission.
1. Spiritual direction--Christianity. 2. Witness bearing
(Christianity) 3. Missions--Theory. 4. Christianity and
culture.
I. Title
253.5’3-dc23
ISBN-13: 9781783688722
Cover & Book Design: projectluz.com
Langham Partnership actively supports theological dialogue and a scholar’s right to publish but does not necessarily endorse the views and opinions set forth, and works referenced within this publication or guarantee its technical and grammatical correctness. Langham Partnership does not accept any responsibility or liability to persons or property as a consequence of the reading, use or interpretation of its published content.

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To all who have accompanied me, each in his or her own way, as I have followed Jesus:
Diane, my wife and best friend;
David and Lois, my parents;
Dean & Dorothy Truog, Aral & Irene Dyksman, Paul & Beth Ronka, Len & Diana Sunukjian, Bill St Cyr, Ben & Mary-Jean Jennings, Dave Imbach, Gordon Mollett
Contents

Cover

Acknowledgments

1 Introduction

Is Discipleship Reserved for ‘Super Christians’?

Disciples Who Aren’t Disciples

A Defective Model of Missions

Note:

Questions to Think About:

2 Does Our Strategy of Church Planting Produce Disciples?

Financing the Mission of the Church

The Biblical Foundation of a Lay Mission

Did the Apostle Paul Work to Finance His Mission by Choice or out of Necessity?

Conclusions

Questions to Think About:

3 Does Jesus Really Want Us to Make Disciples?

1) This Mission is the Most Important Thing That We Can Accomplish

2) The Apostolic Nature of the Great Commission is an Element Which Contributes to its Importance

3) Jesus Gave an Assignment Which is Very Specific

4) The Mission Which We Have Received is Both Ingenious and Strategic

Conclusions

Questions to Think About:

4 What Does a Disciple of Jesus Look Like?

Why Has Christ Come into this World? Why Was Jesus Born?

A Disciple is Attached to His Master

Discipleship in the Semitic World of the Hebrews

The Characteristics of Discipleship within the Rabbinic Tradition

What is Unique about the Discipleship of Jesus?

Summary:

Disciples Find and Teach Others What They Have Learned of Christ

Conclusions

Questions to Think About:

5 The Way of Transformation

The Motif of a Plan

The Motif of the Way

The Motif of Pilgrimage

Total Abandonment of One’s Self

The Importance of Depth

What Transformation is Not

The Goal of Transformation

The Process of Transformation

My Personal Testimony

Conclusions

Questions to Think About:

6 Two Major Objections

Was the Apostle Paul a Disciple of Jesus?

Paul Was a Disciple of Jesus through the Witness of the Faith Community

Paul Was a Disciple of Jesus through the Spirit of Jesus

Did Paul Make Disciples of Jesus?

Does the Personal Accompaniment of Others in Discipleship Invariably Give Rise to Spiritual Abuse?

By What Authority?

To Finish Well

Six Barriers

Some Warning Signs

Questions to Think About:

7 The Disciple of Jesus and the Glory of God

The Concept of Glory in the Old Testament

In the Garden of Eden

In the midst of His People

In the Tabernacle

In the Temple

The New Testament Concept of the Glory of God

Jesus Was the Manifestation of the Glory of God

The Glory of God and the Disciple of Jesus

Four Lessons Drawn from the Life of Jesus

Questions to Think About:

8 How to Begin and Sustain a Disciple-Making Accompaniment

How to Initiate a Personal Accompaniment in the Footsteps of Jesus

Notice the Form of that Accompaniment

A Description of Discipleship Accompaniment

Conclusion

Questions to Think About:

9 The Disciple of Jesus, the Demon, and Deliverance

Can the Disciple of Jesus be Demonized? <